Oakland: Ferguson protesters storm freeway, loot stores and battle cops

Posted: 11/25/2014 06:37:00 PM PST

Updated: 11/25/2014 06:55:35 PM PST

OAKLAND -- For the second night in a row, a growing crowd of protesters blocked traffic lanes and chanted on a major freeway in Oakland to protest a grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown.

The crowd of about 100 people began their march down Broadway around 5:30 p.m. before circling outlying streets that surround the Oakland Police Department headquarters, with dozens of officers in tow, either on foot or in cars.

Marchers then made their way up on off-ramp onto Interstate 980, where they blocked both directions of traffic, putting commuters at a standstill.

Police quickly directed the group off both lanes of I-980 after roughly 10 minutes. The group doubled back through Oldtown Oakland and headed back toward Frank Ogawa Plaza, at 14th Street and Broadway.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, arrests or vandalism.

Before the march began, Tibu Garcia, an 11-year-old San Francisco resident who came to the protest with his aunt, timidly took the megaphone at the plaza.

'This is a message to police,' he said. 'We here are people and people shall continue.'

As the group continues to march through Tuesday night, the hope is to remain peaceful, some marchers said. Monday night's protest in Oakland ended with police deploying tear gas and rubber bullets on a lingering group of protesters who smashed several windows in downtown Oakland and looted a several stores. Hundreds of protesters blocked traffic on both sides of Interstate 580 near Lakeshore Avenue for almost an hour.

On the city's east side, smaller groups gathered to discuss the grand jury's decision and the impact it has had on communities across the United States.

At The Youth Employment Partnership on International Boulevard, about 20 people gathered to watch the film 'Fruitvale Station' -- which depicts the killing of Oscar Grant at an Oakland BART station on New Year's Day 2009 -- as a way to reflect on the current debate.

Before the movie started, some at the gathering talked about their feelings about Monday night's protest in Oakland and how it affected them.

Meleah Ruttin said she was upset about the decision, but like many others marching, she was not shocked by the results. She said a sliver of hope had remained before the grand jury report was read Monday night that Wilson would be indicted, and that what she saw on television of the protests in Ferguson struck very close to home for marches she had participated in surrounding the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant.

'Going (to Ferguson) would be dangerous because of the police,' she said. 'I got tear gas thrown at me and have been shot twice with rubber bullets.

'When I got home last night I cried, not for the pain I (have) endured but for the trials my community must go through in a system that is not set up to protect us.'

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